Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter
Imagine yourself as the Apostle Paul in the scene our first reading describes. You’ve spent three years with a community, enculturating yourself, making friends, pouring yourself out in ministry; it’s become like a tight-knit family. Now it’s time to leave. You’ll never see these dear ones ever again. What do you say to them? What is the final message you want to impart?
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” This power-packed sentence was among the final words that Paul declared in love, through tears to the pastors of the Church at Ephesus. These are Jesus’ words, not Paul’s. We don’t find this assertion in the Gospels, so it must be a cherished message spread organically from Christ himself through the Apostles to Paul and others and to Luke, who records it here in the Acts.
Do we believe these charitable words in our heart of hearts? “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” I remember hearing this phrase from my Mom when I was a child, particularly at Christmastime – “Remember now, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Yeah, I don’t know about that . . . my young, self-centered ego would think. Let’s be honest with ourselves today. Is there a part of you that echoes that uncertainty, Yeah, I don’t know about that?
It's easy to embrace Paul’s final words when it’s not challenging. I’ll admit a twinge of smug self-righteousness as I sat down to pen this reflection. Yes, I thought to my “grown-up self,” I love to give gifts, especially to others on their birthday, Christmas, or other special occasion. It’s such fun to see the delight on someone’s face when I’ve surprised them with the perfect gift or something they’ve always wanted but wouldn’t buy for themselves. That’s more fun than even the gifts I receive.
But what about when it’s hard? What about if I have to sacrifice for someone else? What if the giving costs me more than I want to afford, whether that’s monetarily or in emotional, mental, or spiritual currency. What if I don’t like the person to whom I feel compelled to give? What if that person never gives anything to me and is in fact chronically unkind to me? How about when I feel like all I do is give and nobody notices me? How about when the still small voice of God calls me to give even to a perceived enemy?
Recognizing the blessedness of giving over receiving requires a deep, inherent humility. We must arrive at the place where we can give without expecting anything in return. And let’s be honest, we almost always want something in return, even if that desiring is subconscious. We almost never give to others with no strings attached. Let us ask ourselves today, what are the strings that I tend to attach to my giving? What are my emotional needs that get attached to my charity, and in fact often become entangled like a knot in a delicate gold chain.
True love doesn’t exist apart from sacrifice. Love, as Aquinas said, desires and wills the good of the other. The purity of that love flows from the Cross. Jesus shows us the extent of His sacrificial love. We have beautiful exemplars of that love in St Paul and the other Apostles and martyrs. As Jesus’ sacrificial love pours over, around, and through me and my neighbor, how in the world could I ever be selfish, unloving, or uncharitable? And yet I often am. Lord, help me!
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Why this Beatitude? Because when we give to others, we’re giving to Jesus himself, and the Jesus in me is the one reaching out to them! It all begins and ends in Christ, who shows us the love of the Father and pours out the Holy Spirit, Love himself. It’s one great circle of love, one circle dance of blessing. Beatitude flows from sacrifice. In the final analysis, without sacrifice, there is no beatitude.
Today, let us put this into practice. Let’s ask ourselves, who can I serve today without expecting anything in return? What emotional needs can I set aside in order to love others more perfectly with the grace that God gives? What sacrifice might I make today? “It is more blessed to give than to receive” – let’s press into that truth today, even when it’s difficult. Lord, help us; Lord graciously help us. Amen, alleluia!
—Elizabeth Wells